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Friday, December 19, 2014

DIY Photocards in PicMonkey

(That area with the black box has our address.)

Tennyson's birthday is next month, and the planning and preparations have begun! My intentions are to have a birthday party for him, but keep it very low key. All those Pinterest-worthy first birthdays are impressive, but a lot of work and expense. We prefer a little more simplicity in life. My first task for the occasion is for an invitation. I looked and looked for a photocard option, but couldn't find one that would be inexpensive and yet still look nice. So, I decided to create my own! I was able to get all the elements I desired in the card and keep the cost low by using PicMonkey. Now, let me say that I am in no way a graphic designer or very good at working with the computer (as that should be pretty obvious!). I did what I could, and am satisfied with the result. I started by creating a collage to accommodate eleven month-by-month pictures of him, and two writing fields. I resized the image to be 1800x1200 in order to get a 4x6 print. I then used the editing portion of the site to add all the wording. The monkey is actually the same one I had painted on a canvas for his room. I simply recreated it onto a brown piece of paper, scanned it into the computer, removed the background, and then inserted it into the photo as an overlay. It's not super clean around the edges, but I got it about as good as I could. All I had to do next was send it to the printer (nearby drugstore for 1hr photo service). Each "card" only cost $0.29! Compare this to the cost of creating a photocard at about $1.85 each, and then having to pay more for shipping. I then just had to purchase a box of invitation envelopes and I'm all set! I've also used this method to create Thank You cards for Christmas this year. Part of the joy of gift giving is getting the see the delight of the individual opening his/her gift. So, I decided that I would take pictures of him opening each of his gifts from family members and then mail them a card so that they could see him opening and playing or wearing their gift. (In the future when he is able, I will have him handwrite a personal thank you on the back. I'm a strong believer in teaching kids etiquette like handwritten thank you notes). Below is one card I made using PicMonkey.

2 comments:

Hi Whitney! I think Tennyson's birthday invitation looks great! I am impressed that you made it yourself. To me, it looks like a professional template. :-) The thank you note you created is very cute too. On a side note, my son has that same toy train. At 21 months old, he still enjoys playing with it. I think it's a toy that will be fun for many years. :-)

Thank you! I have to admit that I'm pretty proud of how they turned out. I'm also proud of the fact that I only spend $.29 per card!

He has really enjoyed that train! He's already a pro at pulling off the pieces! haha. I have enjoyed getting him classic wooden toys this past year, and so I was thrilled to see that he received such as a Christmas gift! I think he'll enjoy that toy for quite a while! :)